January 29, 2008

NIH Announces Fiscal Policy for FY2008

The National Institutes of Health on Monday, January 28, announced its FY2008 fiscal policy. The policy reflects the $29.2 billion NIH appropriation for FY2008; a 1% increase over the FY2007 funding level. Highlights of the NIH fiscal policy include:

1) Non-Competing Awards. These will be funded, on average, at approximately a 98% level of the previously established commitments. Note, previously established commitments were based on a 3% inflation allowance. Since the NIH appropriation resulted in only a 1% increase, the previously established commitments had to be adjusted, accordingly.

2) Competing Awards. The average cost of competing awards will be allowed to increase by 1% over FY2007. It is estimated this will allow the ICs to support the NIH investigator pool with approximately 9,700 new and competing RPGs, and will allow the number of new investigators to be comparable to the average of the most recent five years.

3) Career Awards, SBIR/STTRs. These programs will generally be funded at the committed levels.

4) Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA). Funds for stipends, tuition and training-related expenses are held at the FY2007 levels.

Each IC will be required to manage its portfolio in compliance with the 1% NIH appropriation increase. However, the FY2008 fiscal policy does allow each IC more flexibility than was provided in FY2006 and FY2007 (both years also experienced sub-inflation appropriation increases). For example, individual Non-Competing Awards may be funded at a higher level, or a lower level, as long as the IC (in total) remains in compliance with its funding target (i.e., 1% increase).

Specific funding strategies for each IC will be available on February 6, 2008. In addition, institutions can contact an NIH Grants Management Specialist on questions related to specific awards.

January 18, 2008

Berkeley Coeus 4 Upgrade Complete: New Passwords for Coeus Web Accounts

The Research Administration and Compliance Information Systems team (RAC-IS) has successfully finished the upgrade to Berkeley Coeus version 4. All core components of the system (proposals, awards, subcontracts) and all associated infrastructure elements (state of the art development environment, future upgrade capability, Coeus-to-BFS feed, reporting mechanisms) have been upgraded and RAC-IS is now pleased to announce the rollout of the new Coeus Web.

The updated web service runs on new technology and infrastructure. All reports available on the old system are available on the new system. The campus Master Org Tree hierarchy has been implemented to identify organization units associated with proposals and awards. Benefits of the new system include enhanced capabilities for documenting proposal reviews, tracking agreement negotiations, managing subcontracts and subcontractors, and compliance information, among others.

New Coeus Web Passwords

Existing campus users of Coeus Web will need new passwords in order to access the new system.

UPDATE: To sign up to activate your account and receive a new Coeus Web password, to request a new account, or for more information on Berkeley Coeus Web and Coeus version 4, please contact Neil Maxwell (nmaxwell@berkeley.edu, 2-0123).

Please note that accounts established for departments are shared accounts; accounts for faculty are established for the individual faculty member.

More About the Berkeley Coeus 4 Upgrade

The Berkeley Coeus system is the institutional system of record for tracking all Berkeley campus research proposals and awards processed by the Sponsored Projects Office (SPO) and the Industry Alliances Office (IAO). Data captured in Coeus is passed automatically to the Berkeley Financial System (BFS) to establish and modify fund accounts for project spending, and is also used to provide required reports to the UC Office of the President.

The upgrade is a complete technical migration. The client application is now written in Java; upgrades from MIT will be incorporated as they are released, while at the same time preserving Berkeley customizations; the entire system runs on Campus Data Center Web Farm and database infrastructure; and all legacy data has been migrated to the new system.

The upgrade project lays the groundwork for future enhancements in a number of areas, including reporting and campus access to SPO data, conflict of interest disclosure tracking, routing and approval of proposals through the campus, and system-to-system submission of fully electronic proposals. When implemented, the new human and animal subjects protocol systems will be integrated with Coeus.

NIH Public Access Policy Now Required

The National Institutes of Health has issued Revised Policy on Enhancing Public Access to Archived Publications Resulting from NIH-Funded Research (NOT-OD-08-033). The revised policy implements Division G, Title II, Section 218 of PL 110-161 (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008), which states:
The Director of the National Institutes of Health shall require that all investigators funded by the NIH submit or have submitted for them to the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central an electronic version of their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts upon acceptance for publication, to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication: Provided, That the NIH shall implement the public access policy in a manner consistent with copyright law.
As of April 7, 2008, all articles arising from NIH funds must be submitted to PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication. As of May 25, 2008, NIH applications, proposals, and progress reports must include the PubMed Central reference number when citing an article that falls under the policy and is authored or co-authored by the investigator, or arose from the investigator’s NIH award. This policy includes applications submitted to NIH for the May 25, 2008 due date and subsequent due dates.

See http://PublicAccess.NIH.gov/ for more information.

January 09, 2008

Reminder: COI Materials Due Ten Days Before Committee Meeting

The faculty Conflict of Interest Committee meets monthly, except in August, to review all positive financial disclosures related to research gifts, grants, contracts, cooperative agreements, MTAs and human subjects protocols.

In order for a disclosure case to be placed on the agenda for any monthly meeting, all materials required for review must be received by Jyl Baldwin no later than ten working days prior to the published meeting date. Materials required for Committee review may include items requested specifically after initial review of positive financial disclosure packets, such as copies of consulting agreements.

The lead time of ten working days is critical for preparation and distribution of case materials to the members of the COI Committee.

January 08, 2008

Statement of Economic Interests (700-U) Form Revised

The State of California has issued a revised 700-U Statement of Economic Interest for Principal Investigators for immediate use. The revised form is available on the COI Committee web site and is the only version that will now be accepted. If you have any questions please contact Jyl Baldwin (jbaldwin@berkeley.edu, 2-8117).

State of California law requires disclosure of financial interest in the sponsor of a research project; the donor of a research gift; and, under certain circumstances, the provider of materials under a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) when that sponsor, donor, or provider is a non-governmental source. For research projects, the Statement of Economic Interests for Principal Investigators (Form 700-U) should accompany the proposal and Proposal Review Form to the Sponsored Projects Office or to the Industry Alliances Office. For MTAs, the Form 700-U should accompany the Material Transfer Agreement Review Form to the Industry Alliances Office.

January 04, 2008

NIH Consolidates Late Submission Information; Issues New Plan for Applications from Study Section Members

The National Institutes of Health has reissued the NIH Policy on Late Submission of Grant Applications. The reissued notice consolidates information from previous late submission notices and serves as a companion to NIH Guide Notice OD-08-026, a new plan for continuous submission of certain types of applications from appointed members of NIH Study Sections.

NIH is implementing an alternate plan for submission and review of research grant applications from appointed members of chartered NIH Study Sections in order to recognize their service and to minimize disincentives to Study Section service. The timing of Study Section meetings and most standard due dates for grant applications overlap, so reviewers are under pressure to review applications and prepare their own applications simultaneously. Beginning February 5, 2008, the alternate submission and review procedures, described in the NIH Guide Notice, will be available. This alternate process is limited to 1) appointed members of chartered standing Study Sections and 2) applications that would normally be received on standard submission dates but not special receipt dates.

NIH Issues New PHS 398, 2950, and Other Forms

The National Institutes of Health has issued revised PHS 398, PHS 2590, PHS 2271, PHS 3734, and HHS 568 forms, available on the NIH Forms & Applications page. The newly revised forms are dated 11/2007.

NIH has made some notable changes to the revised PHS 398 form and instructions, including implementation of terminology used in the Grants.gov SF424 (R&R). The new PHS 398 may be used to submit grant applications beginning with the January 25, 2008 deadline and is required for applications received for May 25, 2008 and subsequent due dates. NIH is also requiring that appendix material submitted with paper PHS 398 applications on or after May 25 be submitted on CD only.

The new PHS 2590 form and instructions must be used for all progress reports received on or after March 1, 2008. The NIH Guide notice lists the notable changes.

The new PHS 2271 Statement of Appointment must be used for all trainee appointments made on or after May 1, 2008. The PHS 3734 Official Statement Relinquishing Interest and Rights in a PHS Research Grant form may be used immediately. The HHS 568 Final Invention Statement and Certification form may also be used immediately.

NIH Guide Notices